“Me fuckin’ too.”
Poppy stifled a laugh as he shot me a playfully admonishing look. I grinned innocently at him.
We didn’t want to take up too much of their time. After saying our goodbyes, we turned to leave when Charon’s voice called out, “Wait! You forgot something.”
The bear shifter rustled around for something inside the apartment.
Sorrel groaned and buried his face in his palm. “Did you have to bring it up?”
Poppy tilted his head. “What is it?”
A second later, Charon popped into the doorway with a piece of paper pinched between his fingers. He handed it to us. “Hereyou go. Sorrel was too shy to give it to you, so I’ll do it for him,” he added, winking at the other omega.
Poppy and I gingerly pinched opposite sides of the thick, textured paper. Two figures were depicted in watercolor paint on the creamy white background: a white wolf and a purple dragon, cuddled up against each other with fond expressions. The loose, flowy nature of the watercolors caused the purple paint from the dragon’s scales to blend with the wolf’s white fur, and the pale yellow from the wolf smeared into the dragon, too.
Warmth welled up inside me.
“Did you paint this, Sorrel?” I asked.
He looked deeply flustered, but nodded. “It didn’t turn out the way I wanted, so I was going to try again later, but...” He shot a halfhearted glare at Charon, who smiled angelically.
Poppy was on cloud nine. “I love it the way it is,” he murmured, barely holding back tears as he stared at the painting. “Viol, can we get this framed?”
“Aw, no, don’t do that,” Sorrel complained, flushing harder.
I grinned as I ignored Sorrel’s objections. “Yup. Saw a shifter-run framing shop just down the street. Let’s stop by before we head home.”
“Um,” Sorrel said shyly. “There’s a nice cafe close to the framing shop. Maybe we could... have lunch all together sometime?”
My heart soared. “I’d love that, Sorrel!”
“Double date?” Charon teased, winking at Sorrel, who blushed so profusely that his pale cheeks resembled a pair of beets.
Viol grinned. “Shit, I’m hungry now. What are we waiting for? Let’s grab lunch.”
“Us, too?” Sorrel asked, still flushed.
Viol nodded, encouraging them along. “Fuckin’ obviously. Come on, you two.”
“I’ve never been on a double date before,” I mused while Sorrel groaned and buried his pink face in his palms.
“Aww, is that you guys?”Saffron asked chipperly.
Saffron and Rorik were the first to greet us upon our return. They each held a twin in their arms—Jaki the dragonet with Saffron, and Andri the polar bear cub with Rorik.
Poppy offered the framed artwork to Saffron so he could get a closer look at it.
“Yes. Sorrel painted it for us,” Poppy said proudly.
“This is so freaking cute. I want a painting of us, too,” Saffron announced to his mate.
The corner of Rorik’s mouth curled into a smile. “It is quite beautiful. We should ask Sorrel if he takes commissions.”
I could tell the big bear was happy to hear his old friend was doing well. Just like Poppy, it seemed like Rorik had had a weight lifted off his shoulders. The fact that their fellow omegas from the tundra clan were flourishing in their new lives was a massive relief for both of them—and in turn, a relief for me and Saffron, too. Our mates’ happiness was the most important thing in the world to us.
Jaki reached inquisitively for the painting, but Saffron swooped him away before his tiny claws touched the glass.
“Whoops,” Saffron said. “Sorry, buddy. You can’t handle fine art until you’re older.”
